The present invention relates to a new polymer which in addition to hydrocarbon units contains siloxane groups. This is a terpolymer which is obtainable by copolymerizing    (A) 1% to 70% by weight of at least one electron-deficient olefin,    (B) 1% to 85% by weight of at least one olefin which on its olefinic double bond carries only hydrogen atoms and/or carbon atoms without electron-withdrawing substituents, and    (C) 1% to 70% by weight of at least one alkoxyvinylsilane,the sum of the % by weight of components (A), (B), and (C) making 100% by weight.
The present invention further relates to a process for preparing this terpolymer and to derivatives of this terpolymer which are obtainable by thermal crosslinking, by hydrolytic crosslinking, by modification with alcohols and/or amines, or by treatment with aqueous or alcoholic alkali metal hydroxide solution or aqueous or alcoholic amine solution.
Polymers with hydrocarbon chains and siloxane groups are able to crosslink and are therefore starting materials for adhesives or sealants or for compositions for surface modification. Such products are therefore of great industrial interest.
A variety of preparation processes are common knowledge for polymers having hydrocarbon chains and siloxane groups. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,519 (1) describes the grafting of a polyolefin with a vinylsiloxane. Kennedy and Ivan in Carbocationic Macromolecular Engineering, Hanser-Verlag, 1991, pages 142, 143, 174, and 175 (2), describe the living cationic polymerization of 2-methylpropene, the reaction being terminated with an allylsilane, and the subsequent hydrosilylation of the α,ω-diene. Known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,597 (3), moreover, is the copolymerization of isobutene with silylstyrene or silylmethylstyrene. Common to all these processes is their technical cost and inconvenience, since they are multistage processes and/or require removal of large amounts of heat in the polymerization at low temperatures, and/or because special agents must be used, which often are not available commercially.
It was therefore surprising that polymers of this kind with hydrocarbon chains and siloxane groups can be prepared in a hitherto unknown single-stage reaction from commercially available monomers at low energy cost, i.e., in general without cooling.
The present invention accordingly provides the terpolymer identified at the outset, which is obtainable by simple copolymerization of the components (A), (B), and (C).
Copolymers of vinylalkoxysilanes with anhydrides of unsaturated acids such as maleic anhydride are known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,589 (4). Such copolymers are described therein as constituents of epoxy resins.
Copolymers of vinyltrialkoxysilanes with maleic anhydride, in a form in which they have undergone partial or complete transformation to the corresponding monoesters, are known from DE-A 27 30 008 (5). Such copolymers are recommended therein for the preparation of reactive silyl compounds which can be used as adhesion promoters, coating materials or filtration aids.
WO 95/07944 (6) describes terpolymers of (a) 20 to 60 mol % of at least one monoethylenically unsaturated C4 to C6 dicarboxylic acid or its anhydride, (b) 10 to 70 mol % of at least one oligomer of propene of a branched 1-olefin having 4 to 10 carbon atoms such as oligoisobutene, and (c) 1 to 50 mol % of at least one monoethylenically unsaturated compound which is copolymerizable with the monomers (a) and (b). Monoethylenically unsaturated compounds contemplated are linear 1-olefins, unsaturated monocarboxylic acids, vinyl and allyl alkyl ethers, esters of unsaturated monocarboxylic or dicarboxylic acids, vinyl and allyl esters of saturated monocarboxylic acids, N-vinylcarboxamides, and N-vinyl compounds of nitrogen-containing heterocycles.